


inside my head, there's a little place left for you

by rawrimmapanda



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Getting Back Together, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:08:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24475510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rawrimmapanda/pseuds/rawrimmapanda
Summary: Dom gets traded to Buffalo and is reunited with his roommate from Chicago, who he may have had feelings for.Whoops.
Relationships: Dominik Kahun/Henri Jokiharju
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23
Collections: Pucking Rare - A Hockey Rarepair Challenge





	inside my head, there's a little place left for you

**Author's Note:**

> Nothing like pioneering a new tag! Huge thanks to my partner for suggesting this as a pairing and giving me facts about Chicago to use. Hope everyone enjoys it!

And all I want is to find out what you're going through

What do I know?

Maybe this silence is dangerous

“You’ve been traded to Buffalo. We wish you the best in the future.”

The phone call ended before Dom could say anything else. He sat on the edge of his bed staring at the wall.

Buffalo was where Henri was. After the summer where they both were traded away from Chicago, whatever they had between them had faded away.

Dom wrote it off as just them not being as serious as he thought. He had a habit of reading into things too deeply as it was, so this could just be his heart getting attached to a random hookup. They still snapped each other random things, but that relationship, if you could call it that, had faded to grey.

Dom sighed, knowing that he probably should send Henri a text and let him know what happened. His thumb hovered over his phone, something inside of him holding him back from actually opening the phone to send the message. He took another deep breath and closed his eyes as he unlocked his phone. He found his WhatsApp message thread between them and sent a simple hello.

Dom put his phone down and walked to the kitchenette of the suite he was staying in, making himself a bit of coffee before facing his problems. He heard the buzz of his phone against the table he left it on. He finished pouring his coffee and pondered what to say next.

>Hey

It was simple and left Dom an opening. He smiled, thinking of the last time they were together. They had broken their unspoken rule of not sleeping over when not on the road and had woken up next to each other. Dom knew then he loved Henri.

Henri didn’t appear to love him in the same way and Dom never brought it up. He figured he’d save the heartbreak and distance himself over the summer. Instead, the Blackhawks decided to trade them both away. That was the only sign Dom needed.

Dom shook his head, shaking the thoughts away as he did so.

I got traded.<

To Buffalo<

Dom put his phone down and took a long sip of his coffee, noting to the empty room that it was quite bitter. He shuddered and put down the cup as he noticed his phone starting to blow up with messages from teammates and one random number that he didn’t recognize.

Nestled in the notifications was the WhatsApp notification from Henri.

>Cool. You want to stay with me? 

>Unless it’d be weird?

Dom thought about it as he scrolled through his messages. He decided to pop the area code for the random number into Google before responding. The message was innocent, but he wasn’t sure who it was. Once he saw that it was a Boston area code, he figured it was his new captain. He sent back a response about being excited to join the team and all of that. He decided that he had to pack his bags at some point to head to Buffalo. He mulled over Henri’s offer.

Sure. Beats staying at hotel I guess<

As Dom was packing his bags up, he got a phone call, this time showing a Buffalo area code. He answered and went through the motions with his new GM. The GM offered for him to stay with a veteran or to put him up in a hotel room until he could get settled. Dom politely declined, stating that a teammate had already offered. He was convinced he could hear the smile over the phone. His phone buzzed with an email. It was flight details for his flight from Pittsburgh to Buffalo. He thanked the GM, hung up, and finished packing his bags.

Before Dom grabbed all of his stuff, he sent Crosby a text, thanking him for his time on the team. He called a moving company and arranged to have his stuff moved to Buffalo over the next week. He told them he’d have an address in a day and they agreed to come out and pack his stuff up.

>When do you fly in?

The message hung there in Dom’s notifications. He knew realistically that he had just agreed to stay at Henri’s place, but the thought of seeing him made him slightly nauseous. This was becoming too real. When they played each other in November, Dom had made an excuse to only hang out in the United Center. They didn’t go get a later dinner like they had initially planned because Dom was too scared that he’d confess his love. Now Dom is faced with seeing Henri and being in close quarters with him again. He took a deep breath and texted Henri the flight details.

>Cool, I’ll come pick you up.

Dom was shaking as he finished packing up a few bags. He sent Henri a quick text with just the thumbs up emoji. As he was locking up the suite, he felt a chill rush over him.

This was really happening.

Chicago seemed so long ago, even though it was literally less than a year ago. They had apartments near each other downtown and there were a few times where they went ice skating at Millennium Park for the fun of it. In hindsight, Dom could swear those were more like dates, but they had that stupid agreement. For a few fleeting moments in time, it felt as if they had something more. Henri was the one that suggested they check out the fireworks for New Years at Navy Pier. Dom just tagged along because it sounded like fun. They ubered back to Henri’s apartment that night after drinking a bit too much. That’s when Dom woke up next to him, feeling alone with him and his feelings.

Dom shook his head, shaking the memories from his head, ready to focus on the task at hand. The Uber he ordered had shown up and he climbed in after putting his bags in the trunk. He was thankful that the Uber driver was chatty and didn’t recognize him. They chatted about the weather and the construction of the highway they were traveling on. Once they were to the airport, the guy wished him a safe flight and Dom grabbed his bags.

Checking in and boarding was as normal as expected. Dom made sure he bought a pack of gum before boarding the plane so his ears wouldn’t pop. They still popped and he cursed whoever told him gum would stop it.

Once they landed, Dom grabbed his luggage from the carousel and ventured outside to the arrivals lane. He heard a honk and looked up from his phone where he was typing a message to Henri about being outside. The car that honked had Henri behind the wheel and he was greeted with a Finn that had a soft smile.

Dom climbed in, tossing his luggage in the backseat.

“Hey, thanks for doing this.”

Henri looked at him and tilted his head, a confused look on his face.

“Of course I’d do this. You’d do the same for me.” Henri replied as the smile crept back on his face.

They drove in relative silence, just the top 40s radio station playing in the background. Dom was nodding along with the music and Henri was tapping his fingers to the beat on the steering wheel.

They arrived at the house Henri was renting soon enough and once they were parked, Henri climbed out and started to grab Dom’s bags from the backseat.

“You know I can carry them myself right?” Dom stuttered out.

“Yeah, but you have that injury and I don’t want to make it worse.”

Dom stopped in his tracks. He never told Henri about the knee issue this season.

“It’s fine. I’ll be playing within the week anyway.” Dom shrugged off the concern, keeping the fact he never told Henri in the back of his mind. Was Henri checking up on him? What did it mean? Dom figured he’d think that over later when he wasn’t flustered.

“Have you eaten yet?” Henri inquired, but continued to barrel ahead.

“Because if you haven’t, I can order something. I haven’t yet, so I can totally get you something.”

Dom noticed that Henri was rambling on, which usually wasn’t his style.

“I could eat.” Dom left it simple and saw the smile creep back on Henri’s face.

“Cool, let’s get inside.” Henri still didn’t let Dom grab a bag, so Dom just followed him into the house like the lost little puppy he was.

Henri dropped the bags in the living room and turned to Dom.

“Want a quick tour?”

Dom nodded, unable to parse thoughts properly after seeing how homey the house looked. Dom wasn’t sure what he expected when walking in, but a handmade quilt over the back of the IKEA futon stuck out. It looked like Henri made a trip to IKEA and then hit up an antique store to fill the rest of the house. The cube shelves had little knick-knacks that totally fit Henri’s personality. He spotted some succulents on one of the shelves, but figured that they would be fake because Henri had absolutely no time to tend to them.

As Henri pointed out doors, he stopped in front of one that was off the main hallway downstairs.

“You can stay in this room. It has an attached bathroom. My room is upstairs. I just ask that you let me know if you’re bringing someone home so I can stay up there.” Henri looked forlorn when saying that.

Dom smiled softly.

“No worries about that. I’ll put my stuff away now. How about you order dinner while I do that? You know what I like.”

Henri smiled and headed to the kitchen to place the order. Dom grabbed his things from the living room and dragged them into the bedroom.

The bedroom had basic light blue sheets and a nice flowery comforter. Dom figured that this was where Henri would put his parents when they come to visit. He opened the closet and started to unpack his biggest suitcase. His carry on sat on the edge of the bed. He tossed his phone next to it on the bed after turning on some music. He got so lost in putting his clothes away that he didn’t hear Henri knocking softly on the door.

“Hey, the food is here.” Henri said while poking his head inside the door.

“I’ll be right out.”

Dom hung up the shirt that was in his hands and grabbed his phone, turning the music off as he exited the room. He made his way to the kitchen to see some pizza and wings sitting out on the counter top. Henri had already set some plates down, so Dom grabbed one and loaded up his plate.

As they were eating, Henri didn’t make much eye contact with Dom. Dom started to worry that he messed up somehow. Dom finished off his plate of food and got up to rinse his plate and put it in the dishwasher.

Henri stood up, frantically putting the remainder of the food away.

“We can have the rest of this tomorrow or something.” Henri said as he closed the boxes and put them in the fridge.

Dom nodded and smiled.

“Sounds like a plan.”

Henri threw a dishwasher tablet into the machine and turned it on. He headed to the living room and Dom followed him.

“Hey, I have had a long day. Do you mind if I crash early? I need to be at the rink early for some media stuff and I don’t want to look like I was hit by a truck.”

Dom hoped it didn’t come out as an excuse to not spend time with Henri. It was the god honest truth.

Henri smirked.

“I have media as well, so we should get to bed.”

They went their separate ways to the different bedrooms. Dom could hear Henri in the room above him puttering around doing his nightly routine. He fished his toothbrush and toothpaste out from his suitcase and started on his own nightly routine.

As Dom was laying his head down for bed, he realized exactly how tired he was. He didn’t know what to expect was going to happen in the morning, but he knew he needed to crash. He drifted off to sleep, thinking about how soft Henri looked while they had eaten dinner together.

When Dom woke in the morning, he could smell coffee from the kitchen. He threw on a sweatshirt and walked out, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“Coffee is just about done.” Henri said without turning around. Dom grabbed a cup that was hanging near the coffee pot. He poured himself a cup of coffee and opened the fridge to find some cream. He found what he was looking for and splashed some in the cup. He noticed that Henri was making eggs and he felt his stomach grumble.

“They’re almost done. Sunny side right?”

“Yeah, can’t believe you remember.” Dom responded, sitting at the counter to drink his coffee and to admire Henri shirtless making breakfast. His shoulder muscles moved in a way that Dom remembered from many a hook up. It was taking his entire fortitude to not do or say anything to ruin the moment. He sipped his coffee some more, continuing to admire the view.

Henri turned around, a plate with eggs, turkey sausage, and fruit in his hands. He placed it on the counter top, sliding it over to Dom. Dom gratefully smiled and picked up his fork to dig in. It was a simple breakfast, but it was nice to have someone else make breakfast for him. The two ate in comfortable silence, knowing that they’d have to get ready soon after eating. As they finished up, Dom grabbed the plates and rinsed them off before putting them in the dishwasher. Henri looked grateful to have another set of hands on deck. They both retreated to their bedrooms to get ready for the morning. Dom assumed he’d be riding with Henri to the rink.

While Dom was getting ready, he heard his phone buzz against the wood table next to his bed. It was a quick text from Henri.

>Don’t forget to pack a bag for the road trip. Just in case you’re going with us.

Dom chuckled. He forgot to check the schedule for his new team. He tossed together a bag, grabbing the three suits he didn’t take out of the garment bag. He hoped his sticks had already arrived from Pittsburgh. As he was zipping up his bag, he heard a knock on his bedroom door.

“You ready?” Henri asked from the other side of the door.

Dom grabbed his bag and opened the door.

“Yep! Let’s get to the rink. I’m excited to meet everyone.”

The pair gathered their things and headed to the car. Henri popped open the trunk and they carefully placed the luggage in there. They laid the garment bags on top carefully before closing the trunk. They climbed into the car and Henri put on some random Finnish pop playlist he had saved on Spotify. As they drove to the arena, Dom took in the city sights, excited to start over in a new city. When they arrived at the players parking lot of the arena, Henri carefully parked the car and motioned for Dom to get out. They walked together inside the arena and were greeted by some staffers that let Dom know to follow them. Henri waved good bye and Dom followed the staffer to the media room. When he got inside, he was handed a hoodie with his number on it. He tossed it on over his t-shirt and settled in. He answered all the silly questions they had and was quickly escorted to a room to have a head shot taken. He put on a jersey and stood there, giving his best smile. Once that was all over, the staffer offered to give him a quick tour. He agreed and as they were walking through the bowels of the arena, they passed Henri. Henri waved and smiled at Dom as he headed to the media room.

The staffer gave Dom the tour, ending in the players lounge. She wished Dom the best of luck and headed out the door. Dom settled in and turned the tv on. He found some highlight package playing and found himself getting invested. He didn’t hear when Henri entered the room, followed by another person. The new person introduced herself as the social media manager and asked if Dom and Henri would be ok with doing an interview together at some point during the week. The pair of players agreed and she left with a smile on her face after thanking them. Henri settled into the couch next to Dom.

“Do you have anything else to do here?” Henri asked.

Dom shook his head, he was told to just be ready to fly out in a few hours. He let Henri know that and Henri grinned.

“I know a good coffee place around the corner. Let’s go there until we need to leave.”

Dom followed Henri out of the arena, the pair grabbing their coats from the coat room on the way out. Once they were in the car, Henri tore out of the parking lot, squealing his tires some.

“I didn’t know this car could do that.” Dom joked, poking slight fun at the fact that Henri was driving a typical sedan.

Henri grinned and punched Dom lightly on the arm. As they were driving to the coffee place, the two were talkative and going over when they thought Dom would get to play. Dom let Henri know it would be during the road trip and Henri smiled at that.

“Can’t wait to see you show us all up.”

Dom blushed, he knew he had some talent, but he wasn’t better than most of the team in his eyes.

Once they made it to the coffee shop and had found a place to park, they realized they only had enough time to get the coffee to go, so that’s what they did. As they were drinking the coffee in the car, they headed back to the arena to hop on the team bus. They settled into the team bus near the front so that they could talk quietly without being overheard. Most of the team stopped by to welcome Dom to the team and to exchange numbers. Dom kept quiet and just thanked everyone as they talked to him. Once everyone was seated, they headed to the airport. Once they got to the airport, they all grabbed their bags from under the bus and headed towards the plane. The team got settled into their regular seats on the plane and Dom looked around lost. Henri pulled on his sleeve and directed him to an empty seat near the middle of the plane. Dom settled down beside Henri and pulled out his headphones so he could watch Netflix on his tablet. Henri grabbed a book and started to read and they sat next to each other in companionable silence. Every so often a teammate would stop by and say hello, but for the most part, they were left alone.

Eventually Dom drifted off to sleep and when he woke up, it was because Henri was shaking him and letting him know that they were about to land. Dom rubbed his eyes and sat up properly in his seat. He thanked Henri for waking him up and put his tablet away in his bag. As they landed, he felt his stomach shift. His ears popped again and he silently cursed.

Once they were on the ground and in the shuttle bus, they were given room numbers and keys for the hotel they were staying at. Dom noted that his room was right next to Henri’s.

They got to the hotel and Dom made his way to the room, opened the door, and collapsed on the bed. He was sore and even though he napped on the plane, he was exhausted. He drifted off to sleep, still in his street clothes. He woke up to a light knock on the door. When he opened it, Henri was on the other side.

“We are leaving for dinner in about 10 minutes. You might want to change.”

Dom looked down at his wrinkled clothes as Henri pushed past Dom to go sit on the bed. Dom tilted his head and shrugged, grabbing his luggage that he had just dropped by the door. He tossed the suitcase on the bed Henri wasn’t sitting on and rummaged through it, finding a nice polo and a pair of chinos. He quickly shed his wrinkled clothes and tossed on the outfit he picked out. He retrieved the belt from the pants he had been wearing and threaded it through the loops the pants he was wearing and buckled it. Before leaving, Dom grabbed a key for the hotel room and slid it into the back pocket of his pants. He made sure his phone and wallet were in his pocket. He looked up and noticed Henri had a weird look on his face. He brushed it off and signaled for them to leave.

“We should get going.” Dom stated, holding the door to the hotel room open. Henri followed Dom out of the room and they headed down to the hotel lobby, chatting about soccer and video games. Once they were in the lobby, they were greeted by their teammates and were all ushered out to the sidewalk to get into the cars that had been ordered for the team. Henri climbed into a car at the end of the line and slid over in the backseat so that Dom could climb in. As they rode to the restaurant, they resumed the conversation about playing FIFA. Once they arrived, they climbed out of the car, thanked the driver, and headed inside. They were ushered to a private room in the back of the steakhouse and placed their orders.

The chat around the table was friendly, as if to welcome the new players to the team. Dom felt himself relaxing as the night went on. At the end of dinner, the leadership group pooled together to pay for the meal and Dom was happy to see it work out like that. As they were heading back to the hotel room, Dom found himself leaning on Henri slightly. He decided to blame it on all the wine he had with dinner. Henri walked Dom to his room and squeezed his arm gently, pushing him into the hotel room. When Dom turned around to say good bye, he was met with a soft smile and a wave. Dom stumbled into the room and climbed out of his clothes, leaving them unceremoniously on the floor. He set an alarm on his phone and climbed into bed, ready to sleep off the long day.

When he woke up to the sound of his alarm, he felt slightly groggy. He was glad that he wasn’t playing that night. He got ready for morning skate and headed down for breakfast. He groggily went through the buffet line, grabbing some rubbery eggs and mystery sausage. He eyed the pancake machine, but decided against it, grabbing some fruit instead. He sat down at the table where the rest of the team was and dug into his food. He sensed someone sitting down next to him and it was Henri with his plate of food.

“How did you sleep?” Henri said between bites of food.

“Good. Felt good to sleep a full night.” Dom responded.

Henri nodded and went back to eating. The chatter around the table was soft and friendly as everyone finished their breakfast. Dom grabbed a cup of coffee as he headed out to the lobby to wait for the bus. Everyone got on the bus and headed to the arena for morning skate. When they got there, Dom was happy to see that his gear made it safely. He was in a stall near some of the other forwards, so he made polite conversation as he got dressed. Once he was ready and had his sticks taped up, he filed out to the ice and started to skate. He didn’t feel a tweak in his knee so he let the training staff know. They let him know that they want him to sit out one more game, but he was fine to take contact during the skate. He smiled and skated a lap around the ice while waiting for people to show up.

Morning skate went smooth, Dom finding some rhythm with his new line mates. He focused on creating chemistry with them and learning the little things about them. He finished up the skate and headed back to the locker room. He quickly showered and got into a pair of joggers and a sweatshirt with his number. He was greeted by the social media team and Henri. They wanted to do something called Roommate Roulette. The idea was that Henri would ask Dom some questions and he’d answer. The questions were pretty innocent until Henri asked if Dom had any favorite hobbies.

Without hesitation, Dom responded with “Other than being with you?”

Dom paused for a second, realizing what he just said. He quickly followed it up with something about soccer to cover things up. He looked at Henri and saw a dumbfounded look on his face. He looked down at his feet and finished answering the questions, feeling the blood rush to his head as he did so. Once they were finished, he saw Henri walk away to talk to the social media team and Dom took his chance to leave. He climbed onto the waiting bus and found an empty seat. After a few minutes, Henri got on the bus and sat next to him. Dom sighed and put his headphones in. Henri tapped his shoulder. Dom removed one headphone and looked up at him.

“We need to talk when we get back to the hotel.”

Dom nodded, scared of what might come out of his mouth if he opened it. Once they got back to the hotel, Henri wordlessly followed Dom to his room. Once they were inside, Henri grabbed Dom and pushed him against the wall. Dom tensed up, afraid of what was going to come next. Henri leaned in and kissed Dom. Dom felt himself relax and started to kiss Henri back. They made out against the wall for a few minutes. Dom was the first to break the kissing.

“That wasn’t talking” Dom said, laughing nervously.

“No, but it helps my point. I love spending time with you. I’ve missed you.” Henri responded, stepping back slightly to give Dom some space.

“I thought you didn’t want anything more than a hook up.” Dom tilted his head, confused.

“God you’re stupid. I love you dammit! I want to spend forever with you!” Henri pulled Dom back in for another kiss.

“I love you too.”

The pair continued to make out until it was time for their naps. They napped together and when they woke up, Dom realized that this was what he was missing for so long. It was perfection.

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from "Monophobia" by deadmau5.


End file.
